Week 9 was a split-screen week. Three of us headed to GDC in San Francisco. Meanwhile, back at CMU, Agnes and Na held down the fort, grinding through Level 1 polish and setting up what would become our most important playtest yet.

At GDC, the big takeaways were deceptively simple: align your goals constantly, keep communication flowing even when it feels redundant, and playtest more than you think you need to. We also carved out time during GDC to brainstorm Levels 2 and 3. The conversations ranged from the Birmingham Riots (where Priestley lost his home to a mob) to Mary Priestley’s death and what it means to tell that story through gameplay. These ideas were still rough sketches, but having them in our heads before we came back meant we could hit the ground running.

Back at CMU, the real action was happening. Agnes and Na pushed Level 1 toward a polished state while simultaneously preparing the playtest build. Their work during a week when the team was scattered was the kind of quiet heroism that doesn’t make for exciting blog posts but absolutely makes or breaks a project.

The playtest gave us our most valuable data yet. Eight testers experienced the full loop: meeting Priestley, running the carbonation experiment with physical props, and solving a Yes-or-No Mystery through voice conversation. The Yes-or-No Mystery scored well, and the dual-screen-plus-props setup genuinely impressed people.

And then there was Priestley himself.

• People perceive his personalit shifted from “stoic / stern / nothing” → “cheerful / likable / curious”
• Instruction clarity improved: majority rated 4–5 (max 5)in Playtest 2
• Yes-or-No Mystery consistently rated highest interest in both rounds (100% rated 5 in PT1; 100% rated 4–5 in PT2)
• Willingness to learn more about Priestley shifted from mixed (PT1: spread across 3–5) → stronger (PT2: 75% rated 4–5)

We recorded with our voice actor, Ean McFadden. And the difference was night and day. Where the AI voice delivered lines with consistent but lifeless intonation, Ean brought layers: warmth, hesitation, excitement that builds mid-sentence, the slight tremble of a man remembering something painful.

The clients had already approved his audition, but hearing the full recording sessions confirmed what we suspected. Priestley needed a human voice to feel human.